Thomas More

== Chancellorship ==
After [[Thomas Wolsey|Wolsey]] fell, More succeeded to the office of [[Lord Chancellor]] (the [[List of English chief ministers|chief government minister]]) in 1529; this was the highest official responsible for equity and common law, including contracts and royal household cases, and some misdemeanour appeals.<ref name=pollard>{{cite journal |last1=Pollard |first1=A. F. |title=Council, Star Chamber, and Privy Council under the Tudors: II. The Star Chamber |journal=The English Historical Review |date=1922 |volume=37 |issue=148 |pages=516–539 |doi=10.1093/ehr/XXXVII.CXLVIII.516 |jstor=552200 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/552200 |issn=0013-8266}}</ref>{{rp|527}} He dispatched cases with unprecedented rapidity. In 1532 he was responsible for an anti-pollution act.<ref name=Krivatsy/>

As Lord Chancellor he was a member (and probably the Presiding Judge at the court when present, who spoke last and cast the deciding vote in case of ties)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howard |first1=George Elliott |title=Review of A Study of the Court of Star Chamber |date=1901 |pages=775–777 |jstor=1834183 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1834183}}</ref>{{rp|61}} of the Court of the [[Star Chamber]], an appeals court on civil and criminal matters, including riot and sedition, that was the final appeal in dissenter's trials.<ref group=note>It seems this court could affirm a conviction that carried the death penalty, but not impose it. {{cite web |last1=Snell |first1=Melissa |title=English Court of Star Chamber: A Brief History. |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/court-of-star-chamber-1789073 |website=ThoughtCo |access-date=16 October 2023}}</ref>

=== Campaign against the Protestant Reformation ===
[[File:HouseOfMore.JPG|thumb|Sir Thomas More is commemorated with a sculpture at the late-19th-century Sir Thomas More House, Carey Street, London, opposite the [[Royal Courts of Justice]].]]
More supported the [[Catholic Church]] and saw the [[Protestant Reformation]] as [[heresy]], a threat to the unity of both church and society. More believed in the theology, argumentation, and ecclesiastical laws of the church, and "heard Luther's call to destroy the Catholic Church as a call to war."<ref name="Gerard">Gerard B. Wegemer, ''Portrait of Courage'', p. 136.</ref>

{{blockquote|Heresy was the single most time-consuming issue Thomas More dealt with in his chancellorship, and probably in the whole of the last ten years of his life.|[[Richard Rex]], ''More and the heretics: statesman or fanatic?'' <ref name=rex/>{{rp|107}}}}

More wrote a series of books and pamphlets in English and Latin to respond to Protestants, and in his official capacities took action against the illegal book trade, notably fronting a diplomatically-sensitive raid in 1525 of the [[Hanseatic League|Hanseatic Merchants]] in the [[Steelyard]] in role as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster<ref name=rex />{{rp|106}} and given his diplomatic experience negotiating with the Hanse.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Colvin |first1=Ian Duncan |title=The Germans in England, 1066–1598 |date=1915 |publisher=Associated Faculty Press, Incorporated |location=London |isbn=978-0-8046-1213-5 |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|150}}

==== Debates with Tyndale====
More wrote several books against the first edition of [[William Tyndale|Tyndale's]] [[Tyndale Bible|English translation of the New Testament]]:.{{sfn|Mueller|Loewenstein|2002|p=93, (footnote 36)}} More wrote the ''Dialogue concerning Heresies'' (1529), Tyndale responded with ''An Answer to Sir T. More's Dialogue'' (1530), and More replied with his ''Confutation of Tyndale's Answer'' (1532).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chuilleanáin |first1=Eiléan Ní |title=The Debate Between Thomas More and William Tyndale, 1528–33: Ideas on Literature and Religion |journal=The Journal of Ecclesiastical History |date=July 1988 |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=382–411 |doi=10.1017/S0022046900038392|s2cid=163326083 }}</ref> More also wrote or contributed to several other anti-Lutheran books.

One of More's criticisms of the initial Tyndale translation was that despite claiming to be in the vernacular, Tyndale had employed numerous neologisms: for example, "Jehovah", "scapegoat", "Passover", "atonement", "mercy seat", "shewbread."<ref>{{cite web |title=Words "Fitly Spoken": Tyndale's English Translation of the Bible {{!}} Religious Studies Center |url=https://rsc.byu.edu/prelude-restoration/words-fitly-spoken-tyndales-english-translation-bible |website=rsc.byu.edu |access-date=30 July 2023}}</ref> More also accused Tyndale of deliberately avoiding common translations in favour of biased words: such as using the emotion "love" instead of the practical action "charity" for Greek {{lang|grc|agape}}, using the neologism ''senior'' instead of "priest" for the Greek {{lang|grc|presbyteros}}{{sfn|Hiscock|Wilcox|2017|p=547}} (Tyndale changed this to "elder"), and the latinate "congregation" instead of "church".<ref>{{cite web |title=William Tyndale's Concept of the Church {{!}} Christian Library |url=https://www.christianstudylibrary.org/article/william-tyndales-concept-church |website=www.christianstudylibrary.org |access-date=30 July 2023}}</ref> Tyndale's bibles include text other than the scriptures: some of Tyndale's prefaces were direct translations of Martin Luther,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Collinson |first1=Patrick |title=William Tyndale and the Course of the English Reformation |journal=Reformation |date=January 1996 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=72–97 |doi=10.1179/ref_1996_1_1_007}}</ref> and it included marginal glosses which challenged Catholic doctrine.{{sfn|Moynahan|2014|p=}}

One notable exchange occurred over More's attack on Tyndale's use of ''congregation''. Tyndale pointed out that he was following "your darling" Erasmus' Latin translation of ''ecclesia'' by ''congregatio.'' More replied that Erasmus needed to coin ''congregatio'' because there was no good Latin word, while English had the perfectly fine "church", but that the intent and theology under the words were all important:

{{blockquote |I have not contended with Erasmus my darling, because I found no such malicious intent with Erasmus my darling, as I find with Tyndale. For had I found with Erasmus my darling the cunning intent and purpose that I find in Tyndale: Erasmus my darling should be no more my darling. But I find in Erasmus my darling that he detests and abhors the errors and heresies that Tyndale plainly teaches and abides by and therefore Erasmus my darling shall be my dear darling still. And surely if Tyndale had either never taught them, or yet had the grace to revoke them: then should Tyndale be my dear darling too. But while he holds such heresies still I cannot take for my darling him that the devil takes for his darling.| source=Thomas More <ref name="Thomas More: First and Best Apologi">{{cite journal |last1=Scheck |first1=Thomas P. |title=Thomas More: First and Best Apologist for Erasmus |journal=Moreana |date=June 2021 |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=75–111 |doi=10.3366/more.2021.0093|s2cid=236358666 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Schuster (Ed) |first1=L.A. |last2=Marius (Ed) |first2=R.C. |title=Thomas More, The Complete Works of St Thomas More, vol. 8, ed. L. A. Schuster, R. C. Marius and J. P. Lusardi |date=173 |location=New Haven, CT |page=177}}</ref>}}

=== Resignation ===
As the conflict over supremacy between the Papacy and the King reached its peak, More continued to remain steadfast in supporting the [[Papal supremacy|supremacy of the Pope]] as [[Apostolic succession|Successor of Peter]] over that of the King of England. Parliament's reinstatement of the charge of [[praemunire]] in 1529 had made it a crime to support in public or office the claim of any authority outside the realm (such as the Papacy) to have a legal jurisdiction superior to the King's.<ref name="Kelly_xiv"/>

In 1530, More refused to sign a letter by the leading English churchmen and aristocrats asking [[Pope Clement VII]] to [[Declaration of nullity|annul]] Henry's marriage to [[Catherine of Aragon]], and also quarrelled with Henry VIII over the heresy laws. In 1531, a royal decree required the clergy to take an [[English post-Reformation oaths|oath acknowledging the King]] as [[Supreme Head of the Church of England]]. The bishops at the [[Convocation of Canterbury]] in 1532 agreed to sign the Oath but only under threat of praemunire and only after these words were added: "as far as the law of Christ allows".<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Tanner |editor1-first= Joseph Robson |title=Tudor Constitutional Documents: A. D. 1485–1603 |date=1922 |publisher=CUP Archive |page=17 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Q9o8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA17 |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref>

This was considered to be the final [[Submission of the Clergy]].<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=7biywRf8_DsC&pg=PA140 |title=Thomas More: A Portrait of Courage |author= Gerard Wegemer |publisher=Scepter Publishers |year=1995 |isbn= 1-889334-12-X |page=xiv}}</ref> Cardinal [[John Fisher]] and some other clergy refused to sign. Henry purged most clergy who supported the papal stance from senior positions in the church. More continued to refuse to sign the Oath of Supremacy and did not agree to support the annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine.<ref name="Kelly_xiv"/> However, he did not openly reject the King's actions and kept his opinions private.<ref name= "Richards8"/>

On 16 May 1532, More resigned from his role as Chancellor but remained in Henry's favour despite his refusal.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=31uoDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT23 |title= Defending Royal Supremacy and Discerning God's Will in Tudor England |author=Daniel Eppley |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 |isbn= 978-1-351-94579-0 |page=13}}</ref> His decision to resign was caused by the decision of the convocation of the English Church, which was under intense royal threat, on the day before.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=y5rDAyEoHyAC&pg=PA116 |title=The Cambridge Companion to Thomas More |editor=George M. Logan |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year= 2011 |isbn=978-1-139-82848-2 |page= 116}}</ref>